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” The year was 1993, and the biggest star in the world was Michael Jackson. The hit song was “Black or White,” his universal appeal so powerful that at the Super Bowl, he was the halftime show, his message that children can heal the world beamed to millions.

But that year, Jackson’s wholesome, Peter Pan image would be tarnished by lurid accusations of child molestation — and a huge civil settlement with his accuser would keep many of the details of the case secret.”

“Jackson’s fans, as opposed to those who merely like his music, consider themselves to be different from the fans of other performers. The issues that consume them tend to have less to do with his talent than his meaning. Obsessive, wary, emotional, occasionally hostile to outsiders, they have come to see Michael as some kind of sui generis American miracle – part human, part spiritual – and themselves as the witnesses to its authenticity.”

“Jackson’s biggest fans describe their passion for the star as a moral duty. They see themselves as intermediaries to a holy innocent, representing what they perceive to be his values – generosity, humility, and love – in a world where goodness is persecuted. Michael Jackson’s fans don’t exactly embrace his eccentricities; they simply deny that he is strange. And their righteous pleasure in defending him is compounded by a sense of exclusivity: The world may see them as fools, but they know they are the faithful remnant. Who are these people?”

“No matter how much whining and crying Michael Jackson does in the public eye about how much he loves children, I don’t believe his bullshit. No one should. Sorry to rain on your parade, but most child molesters insist they love children and would never do anything to hurt them. That’s what they believe. That’s how they live with themselves and rationalize their actions. The cousin who molested me for years said as much when I confronted him as an adult. “I would never hurt you! I love you!” I mean, denial, yeah, but moreover, there was also genuine shock that his actions could be perceived as “hurting” someone. That’s part of a molester’s justification. Some, in some way, really think they ARE showing love and affection for the child, or helping it, or… something. “

“Michael Jackson: Lovable eccentric? Persecuted genius? Child-molesting freak?
Take your pick. In fact, it seems that most of us already have.
It’s clear that millions of people still love Michael Jackson. Or think they do. Actually, there’s no way you can “love” a reclusive multimillionaire you’ve never met. You may love his music or his videos, but the man himself is more than just the sum of those things. His real thoughts and feelings, and the things he does in private, can’t be known at such a distance.”

On the streets of Area Code 718, where I raised my kids, anyone who inappropriately touched a kid automatically had his membership card to the human race revoked. If he didn’t wind up in a cemetery or on Rikers, he was run out of the neighborhood on a third rail.

It wouldn’t have mattered if he was a master carpenter, revered clergyman, teacher of the year, Grammy-winning singer or Oscar-winning director: If you messed with kids, that was all anyone needed to know about you.

“Somehow or other Jackson convinced himself — and seemingly, his family and partisans — that he wasn’t a powerful musical superstar. He was instead a victim of some mysterious stew of health maladies, public persecution, and secret sadnesses that, we were to understand, made this frail man-child shiver with fear. The reality is different.”

“Why did Michael Jackson bring back the gay porno producer to use a video camera to oversee kid trips to Neverland AFTER it was admitted by Jackson’s own people the Jackson/Schaffel alliance was blatantly improper?”

“It is irrational to accept that [Jackson,] an abused child would grow up to be an adult who constantly seeks to invent childhood. Polanski, who’s pregnant wife was murdered a few years before the incident is not given any sort of victim of trauma pass.”

“The trial continued for sixty-six days, and each of those days Mr. Jackson arrived at the California courthouse surrounded by supportive family members, an entourage of body-guards, spokespeople, and even a man who held Mr. Jackson’s umbrella for him. I quickly saw the umbrella as a symbol of the many families who give an umbrella of protection to the father, mother, brother, uncle, or grandparent who has violated a child.”

“The jurors in the Jackson case seemed to convince themselves that everyone was lying except Mr. Jackson – who spoke only in his own defense through a video tape of himself with complimentary lighting, mood music, and the freedom to tell the world that he “loves” children – all without being cross examined about this special kind of “love.””

“…there’s no question that in spite of a four-year absence from record stores, Michael Jackson knows how to reenter the public consciousness with a vengeance. This time he did it with a video whose last four minutes show him dancing, smashing the windows of a car, tossing a garbage can through a storefront, and simulating masturbation”…

Can he beat it? Michael Jackson stages his comeback — Can ”HIStory, Past, Present, & Future – Book I” help the pop star overcome his problems? – June 16, 1995

We know now that nothing helped Jackson after he trashed his reputation with the mainstream public.

The other side of the coin

(or… people who think it’s OK for grown men to sleep with unrelated children):

Further Reading

Maureen Orth, special correspondent for Vanity Fair, has written five well researched articles on Jackson. Fans hate these articles and will always return to the now discredited article from GQ Magazine by Mary Fischer, yet the Jackson camp has never taken Ms Orth to task about any of the facts she presented in her articles. Here they are in the order they were published:

Nightmare in Neverland (July 1994)
While Michael Jackson was whisked away to detox treatment, the star’s lawyers fought a desperate battle to protect him from facing the sexual-abuse charges brought by his 13-year-old accuser. The author untangles the whole painful story to provide the definitive account of Jackson’s fall, and in it finds a late-20th-century parable of manipulation, corrupted fantasy, and lost innocence.

The Jackson Jive (September 1995)
Michael Jackson’s interview with ABC News’s PrimeTime Live was a public-relations triumph, in which 60 million viewers got anything but the truth.

Losing His Grip (April 2003)
From Michael Jackson’s increasingly freakish appearance to his voodoo death spells, to the disturbing revelations in a $21.2 million civil suit against him, the pop star’s life has been spinning out of control. Investigating his spiraling debt, his grandiose schemes, and his controversial relationship with children, Maureen Orth wonders if Jackson is as crazy as he seems – or a cool manipulator of his own fame.

Neverland’s Lost Boys (March 2004)
The latest charges against Michael Jackson – of molesting a 13 year old cancer patient – are more than a deja vu of allegations that led to his $25 million settlement with young Jordie Chandler in 1994. Once again, Jackson and his lawyers are saying the motive of the boy and his family is pure greed. But the King of Pop’s shield of fame and money is wearing thin. Maureen Orth reveals new information from the star’s former business adviser, the ex-wife of his notorious PI, and other insiders about alleged porn and wine seductions, the forensic search of Neverland, and how both accusers’ lives have been torn apart.

C.S.I. Neverland (July 2005)
Disfigured, deeply in debt, and with a history of drug addiction – at 46, Michael Jackson is also at the end of a criminal trial for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient. After 12 years of covering Jackson’s downward spiral and the recurring allegations of pedophilia, Maureen Orth explores the absurd and painful spectacle of this courtroom reckoning, the dysfunctional families on both sides of the case, and the dark tactics of Jackson’s entourage.

That he always slept on the floor while the kids on the bed?
Not even Brett Barnes, Juju Elatab or or Macauley Culkin said that! Jackson slept in bed with his boy friends.

Where are the facts about Neverland – that almost everything was free for all those who came there?
I don’t know. Is that relevant to anything?

Where are the facts about his tours? That he gave away all the profits the Dangerous World tour and 50% of the profits of history world tour to charity?
Once again, do you have a reputable source for that? Even if it wee true, do you think pedophiles don’t donate money to charities? That’s a ridiculous supposition. Look at Jerry Sandusky for instance.

Where is the reference to Evan Chandler’s tape which showed he was after Jackson’s money?
Here’s the entire transcript – http://www.mjfacts.info/transcript.php – read it. Decide for yourself whether it shows a cold extortionist or a hot headed father angry about his son being stolen from him by a celebrity with an unhealthy interest in boys.

Abdullah, I’m afraid you will have to do better. You aren’t dealing with gullible fans here, you will need far better sources of information than the ones you’ve supplied. We are a pretty skeptical bunch 🙂

Julie Clair Aron

You’re quoting your website called mjfacts as a source of evidence to proof of fact??!! That’s absurd give me the sources you obtained you’re “factual” information from. When someone asks show me the facts you quote your website as source for these facts. These are not facts unless you can cite sources from with which you obtained this information.

Julie, all our posts show the sources at the bottom of each post (or, on rare occasions, interspersed through the post).

You are welcome to study the sources yourself, in fact we encourage everyone reading this blog to gather up as much information as they can from wherever they can – even fan websites, which are linked on this page – and come to their own conclusion.

I do however challenge anyone, after reading all the material available, to come to the conclusion that Michael Jackson’s sleepovers or his relationships with boys was “innocent”. If you come to that conclusion, you either haven’t read or understood what you’ve seen properly, or you don’t want to believe it.

No Julie, we must never forget that the primary responsibility for molestation lies with the molester. They perpetrate the abuse, nobody else. We do know that Jackson was a master manipulator, who had a fortune to turn parent’s heads with baubles and gifts as well as a line of patter about “missing out on a childhood” and “I would never hurt a child”, manipulating children into asking their parents if they could sleep in his room (making it seem like the child’s idea with Jackson as the reluctant participant, and a coterie of yes men around him who were eager to keep the boss happy reassuring nervous parents that “everything was fine”. We know things weren’t fine, but that is from hindsight and distance from the situation as it was unfolding.

Most parents wouldn’t be caught by that kind of manipulation, but some gullible ones were. It’s sad, but it’s the reality.

Her new blog is slowly coming together with many rewrites and improvements. She is debating whether to open it to the public or not (and I know many MJ fans are thirsty for her excellent writing). It’s a big responsibility to run an MJ site telling the truth about him, as I well know.

I guess we will just have to wait. I’m hoping it will open soon.

CandyC

I didn’t know what post on MJfacts would be appropriate to ask this but I chose this one as it is a page for people wanting to get more information on Michael. Does anyone recommend reading Ray Chandlers book, All That Glitters? I’m looking for someone who’s genuinely read the book and could give a short review on it for me, since I’m interested in purchasing it to read.

I’ve read excerpts and although it’s not well written it seems interesting and probably factual so can anyone let me know? Thank you!

Andreas

I think there’s been disputes about it on the site earlier, but I personally think its a very solid book for the most part. Of course, it being written by the uncle of the accuser, and the brother of Evan Chandler, could be argued to be both a strength and a handicap. Its probably the closest thing you’ll ever get to hear Evan Chandlers version of the story, seeing as he is dead now, and probably Jordan too, as he can’t talk ever about it because of the settlement, even if he wanted to, although he might testify if a new trial ever comes up. It being the uncle could obviously be seen as a handicap too, because there will be some bias. Still, its as straight to the horses mouth as you can get.

The book goes through their story from start to finish of their story with MJ. From how Michael Jackson started to take a break from his jetstyle career only to be with Jordan and his family, how Evan got to know Michael, how Michael moved in with them for long periods, how Evan understood that something wasn’t right and that Michael might be molesting his son, how Jordan admitted it, how the whole thing really split up the family in a bad way, how the multi-million dollar settlement came to be, and the aftermaths of that. There’s also a pretty good final chapter where Ray digs into who Michael Jackson really was, which I liked. In my opinion his version makes sense. I also sense he tries to be critical, and tries to answer all critique without sugarcoating it. He wasn’t friends with anyone from the family when he wrote the book either. Some fan sites claim its ghost co-written by Evan, but its probably not true, as Ray is quite critical of Evan’s behavior after the first settlement. Especially the second round of lawsuits against Jackson, Ray didn’t seem to be too fond of.

Now, ideally you’d read Victor Guitierez book as another take on it. He was a private investigator, living in his car, just to investigate the case and MJs relationship to other boys. VG has his own weird agenda with the whole thing, but it still has some great insight. Its a very similiar story, although Evan Chandler is portrayed a little bit more cynically perhaps. Not easy getting a copy of Victor’s book today though. You also should read Maureen Orth “Nightmare In Neverland” article. Its good, and can be read online for free. The stories from different sources all kind of overlap though, which is the compelling part.

CandyC

Thank you Andreas. I have read MJWML by Victor Guitierez, it’s a very solid book and the info in the book is quite damning, I don’t know how people can argue with it. I’ve also read Maureen Orths article from Vanity Fair, which is good. Christopher Andersons book on Michael is quite entertaining too, if you’ve read that book, how did you find it?

Andreas

Oh, if you’re that well read with the books you should definitely read ATG. It was the first one I read. As you perhaps know, Ray Chandler reacted strongly when he saw the Bashir documentary and Jackson’s plead to sleep in bed with children. So he went on a public run to explain a lot the myths and lingering questions around the case. Besides the book he leaked tons of documents, including the psychiatrist interview with Jordan Chandler and if I’m not mistaken the document that shows MJs signature on the settlement. If you read it though, I’d be interested in your opinion. I personally found the book very convincing. Not saying I don’t have a few questions still.

I haven’t read the Christopher Anderson book, actually. What did you think of it? Does it add a lot of information to the story?

CandyC

The thing that puts me off ATG is that from the excerpts I’ve read, it is not well written, almost like a novel I would have picked up at the library when I was 10 years old. I could be judging wrong, what’s your opinion? But I’m aware he is not a professional author and I applaud him for actually attempting to get the Chandlers side of the story out there.

I highly recommend Christopher Andersons book, it’s not only interesting but entertaining, I enjoyed it and even though previously I thought I knew everything there was to know about Michael that is available to the public (I researched him endlessly for 7 years and still continue to do so after all) I still learnt quite a bit from it.

To hopefully answer your question I would say it describes the story in a lot more detail, rather than just the general story of the allegations – as in the details of how they met, the seduction process and the aftermath of the allegations becoming public. Just everything in more specific detail.

Just get it! I’d be interested to know your thoughts if you do read it.

Fudhux

Well , like CandyC , I didn’t know where to post this so I post here .

I have seen that Wade’s trial is set for March 2017 and I have 2 questions.

Does anybody know , since Jackson is dead and cannot face his crimes, what the trial is gonna look like. I mean I can kind of imagine that since he is suing the estate that is gonna be the laywers of the estate that are going to be defending Jackson but does someone know a little bit more about it ?

And anyone knows if this is gonna be aired or something ? That would be very interesting.

I suspect a Wade Robson trial will likely not be aired on television or streamed online. There’ve been some requests made by TMZ to air or stream previous hearings, and they’ve all been rejected.

As for what it could look like, that’s a bit of a mystery. Even though Jacko didn’t testify in 2005, he was still there to provide his lawyers with information; the Estate doesn’t have that luxury. This is why I believe that if Wade gets to go to trial (i.e. if he survives Summary Judgment), he’ll probably get a settlement because I can imagine the Estate believing that his lawsuit would be incredibly difficult to defend against.

Alternately, though, this case is essentially about how Jacko’s companies helped facilitate Wade’s abuse by Michael Jackson by organizing his move to the U.S. from Australia and hiring Wade and his mother as employees — all of which would not have happened but for Jacko’s sexual interest in Wade. I would think all the Estate would have to do is show that Wade’s victimization had nothing to do with the companies. Unfortunately for Jacko’s fans, their beloved Michael will need to be thrown under the bus, and he’ll be tacitly referred to as a pedophile who simply did whatever he wanted to do without his companies’ involvement.

Pea

Desiree is a bit hard to keep tabs on these days, but the last time I personally spoke to her, she was still working on putting her website together — the return is still indefinite, unfortunately.

I’ll be sure to tell her there’s still interest in reading her work. 🙂

andrew

Hey, I am amazed at the wealth of information about the King of Pop I have never knew about. There are tons of fanatic fans out there that are maintain he was innocent . Have you ever tried to response to the MJ vindication 2.0 site? If not , are you planning to, because it would be nice to know if their claims have merit or not.

Andreas Moss

Hi Andrew, if you’ve seen any claims on the fan sites that you find convincing or makes you doubt or confused please share them.

I’ve read a lot on them, but I think the mere amount of posts and length of some of the posts makes it exhaustive to go through them point by point. If someone could create a condensed list of their best arguments I would love to see it.

andrew

The reason I was asking is because I have read them and one Quora statement from a fan stuck out to me. The fan said that this site is worth only 300 dollars or something in that vincity. The post also said something about the administrator trying to impersonate Charles Thomson , who appears to be an ardent defender of MJ, so there is that too.

Andreas Moss

I found the post you were talking about. The owner of this site is certainly not Charles Thomson. Thomson had a podcast interview recently where he ardently defended Jackson’s innocence both in the 93′ case and in the 05′ case. If the owner of this site went by that name for a while its weird though. I’ve heard rumors Thomson has been one of those people who’s been very much back and forth about his beliefs about this over the years. What this site is “worth” is however of less interesting, in my opinion.